Confession time: I love vampire films. What’s not to love about nearly immortal creatures with colossal strength who can hypnotize, change shapes and make a mean blood pudding.

All they have to do is stay out of the sunlight and avoid stakes to the heart and they’re set for life, or more accurately, a lifetime membership in Club Undead.

Vampires have been romanticized, eroticized, satirized and sexualized. “What lovely, long fangs you have, Drac.”

And they almost always look debonair, with one notable exception. I’ve always wondered why vampires don’t look more disheveled. Since they cast no reflection, how can fix their hair in front of a mirror?

Anyway, as an aficionado of vampire films, I have not been particularly impressed by the recent spate of movies about the hemoglobin gobblers.

“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” in theaters now, has an interesting premise — Honest Abe as an ax-wielding vampire slayer — but the execution left me colder than Dracula’s epidermis.

The film certainly is violent enough, but after awhile the hatchet work becomes redundant. The best scene in the movie actually involves a horse stampede with one of the vampires throwing a horse at Abe. The film’s tone could have used some work as well..

The film version of “Dark Shadows,” released in May, has its moments, most of them thanks to the deadpan — sorry — performance by Johnny Depp as the vampire Barnabas Collins. Still, the film has more fun with Barnabas reacting to his new modern surroundings than to his vampiric ways.

The less said about the “Twilight” series the better. These aren’t really vampire films. They’re soap operas with vampires. The film’s werewolves are far more threatening and dare I say sexier in human form.

The best vampire films bring something novel to the screen or something wicked or something terrifying or something so over the top you’re either repulsed or amused. Some combine all of these things.

The following list may not be the best vampire films of all time, but there are my personal favorites. Some scared the hell out of me, some freaked me out and some cracked me up. For space reasons, we’ll limit the number to 10. The films are listed in alphabetical order.

“BLACK SABBATH” (1963)

This anthology of horror films by Italian master Mario Brava contains a movie called “Wurdalak,” based on the gothic novella by Aleksey Tolstoy, second cousin of Leo. This film gave me nightmares when I saw it as a youngster. Boris Karloff plays the head of a family whose love for each other proves their undoing when a vampire enters the picture. The final shot — sorry, no spoilers — still unnerves me.

“BLADE” (1998)

Page 2 of 4 - A vampire as a hero? Who would have thunk it? Technically, the title character, played by Wesley Snipes, is half-human and half-vampire. Based on the Marvel Comics hero, the film pits the sword-swinging Blade against vampires who want to rid the world of humans. Great action scenes executed with a surplus of style and arresting visuals put this film on the cutting edge, so to speak.

“CRONOS” (1993)

In a startling directorial debut, Mexico’s Guillermo del Toro gives the vampire story an imaginative and pitch-dark twist. In this horror tale, a beetle-shaped pendant gives its possessor immortality but at a sanguinary cost. Del Toro would later direct “The Devil’s Backbone,” the “Helboy” films” and “Pan’s Labyrinth.” And “Blade 2”, too. This guy is good at being bad.

“DRACULA” (1931)

This wasn’t the first vampire film nor is it the best, but it launched the franchise, turning Bela Lugosi into an influential horror star and introducing us to such characters as Renfield and Van Helsing. Based on the gothic novel by Bram Stoker, the film seems tame by today’s standards, but director Tod Browning still manages to create a truly eerie atmosphere.

“FRIGHT NIGHT” (1985)

What would you do if a vampire moved next door to your suburban home and started making the moves on your mother? Such is the dilemma facing Charley Brewster (Williams Ragsdale) in this clever take on the vampire story. Suave and sexy Chris Sarandon plays the vampire. Not helping matters is that no one believes Charley when he tells everyone about the vampire. He enlists the help of a “vampire expert” played brilliantly by Roddy McDowall. The film effectively combines comedy and horror. Excellent special effects, too. Stay away from the sequel and remake.

“FROM DUSK TILL DAWN” (1996)

Director Robert Rodriguez and writer Quentin Tarantino go for the gore when hostage-taking bank robbers, played by George Clooney and Tarantino, meet up with vampires in a sleazy Mexican strip club. The violence is so revolting and relentless that you’ll either be grossed out or guffaw. I was grossed out and I guffawed. Now this is a good family entertainment — for the Borgias.

“HORROR OF DRACULA” (1958)

No list of vampire films would be complete without a tip of the bowler hat to Britain’s Hammer horror films and its dapper Dracula, Christopher Lee. Here, we get a bloody good take on the neck nibbler with Peter Cushing as Van Helsing.

“LET THE RIGHT ONE IN” (2008)

While adolescent vampires have been featured before, most notably the young Kirsten Dunst in “Interview with the Vampire,” this film focuses on a young vampire as she starts a friendship with a 12-year-old boy who suffers from the abuse of bullies. This Swedish-language film doesn’t downplay the grisly nature of a vampire’s bloodlust yet the relationship of these two children pushes all the right buttons where angst and anger give way to happiness and hope. The final scene is particularly touching. The Englishlanguage remake is more of a Xerox than a movie.

Page 3 of 4 - “NOSFERATU” (1922)

Arguably, the greatest vampire film and definitely the creepiest with Max Schreck playing the vampire with a face not even a mother could love. F.W. Murnau directs this silent German film with an emphasis on the macabre. The scene where Count Orlok — Stoker’s widow wouldn’t let the filmmakers use the Dracula name — rises from his coffin is seriously frightening. The 1979 West German remake directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski isn’t lacking in the freaky department either. Also worth watching is the 2000 film “Shadow of a Vampire,” a fictional account of the making of “Nosferatu” with John Malkovich as Murnau and Willem Dafoe as Schreck.

“UNDERWORLD” (2003)

Once again, we get a “good” vampire,” and a female one. For a bonus she looks mighty fine in tight, black leather. But this vampire, Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale, has a problem. A war is going on between vampires and werewolves and Selene has fallen in love with a werewolf. Yikes, it’s Romeo and Juliet for the corpse crowd. Don’t expect any soliloquies here, though, as Selene goes on a killing spree. Mindless violence. The best kind.

A pointless prequel and sequel followed, but how about a film teaming Selene up with Blade in a battle royal against the entire cast of the “Twilight” films. Let the blood splatter.

Honorable mentions from my colleagues include “The Lost Boys,” “The Hunger,” “Night Watch,” “Martin,” “30 Days of Night” and “John Carpenter’s Vampires” and “Love at First Bite.”

Teen spirit

It’s now time for Trivia.

Last month’s tester: What famous outlaw in a recent film recites a Shakespearean sonnet before committing a crime? Name the outlaw, the actor who played the outlaw, the film and the sonnet.

Answers: Frank James, who was played by Sam Shepard in “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” The sonnet is no. 62.

Loretta Morelle of Framingham was the first and only reader to answer the question correctly. Congratulations!

This month’s tester: What teenager appeared in movies with three Oscar winners in the 1990s? Clue: In one of his last films, he fights an Oscar-nominated actor. Name the teen, the Oscar winners and the Oscar-nominated actor.

The first reader to answer the question correctly will receive products from Fruits & Passion.

Trivia enthusiasts can call me at 508-626-4409 or email me at rtremblay@ wickedlocal.com.

Make sure you leave your name, address and phone number on my message machine or email so I can contact you if you answered the question correctly. The address is needed so winners can be mailed their prize. Callers should spell out their names slowly and clearly so their names will be spelled correctly in the column.

Page 4 of 4 - Answers will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10. Good luck!